Wow, I mean I knew living in America was a privilege, but apparently 15 million other fobs heartily agree and want “in” as well. According to the Wall Street Journal, this year saw a record number of foreigners applying for the greencard lottery, an immigration lucky draw for those hoping to attain permanent resident status here in the US. That’s 25 percent up from last year’s drawing.

Funny, I was actually talking about this with someone on Saturday night at our AA +A Bloggers’ Mixer, which Suzie and I organized. Even though the phrase, “America is the land of opportunities,” is trite and all, it still rings true for us and the immigrant hopefuls. To me, it’s a country in which an individual can succeed through hard work and merit, which isn’t really the case in countries like Japan, where hierarchy is still very much deeply rooted in society.

I can go on about the reasons why I love living here, but I want to hear from you — do you consider yourself lucky that you’re living in the US and what do you love about it?